Fifty Shades of Grey Book Summary - Fifty Shades of Grey Book explained in key points

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Fifty Shades of Grey summary

Name: Fifty Shades of Grey
Rating: 2.9 (127 reviews)
Author: E. L. James

E. L. James

An Erotic Romance Between a College Graduate and a Mysterious CEO

2.9 (127 ratings)

14 mins

Topics

Love Literature Sex

Table of Contents

Fifty Shades of Grey
Summary of 5 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Go deep into a famous erotica title.

Few books written this century are quite as notorious as E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey.

Few books have sold as many copies, either – the Fifty Shades trilogy as a whole has sold more than 100 million.

All in all, it’s not bad for a project that started out as fan fiction. After a few reworkings, James self-published it in 2011 and achieved sudden and unexpected success. Mainstream published Vintage Books picked it up in 2012 and sales soared. The highly successful movie franchise began in 2015.

And why’s it notorious? Well, because – despite being a huge mainstream hit – it’s BDSM erotica.

Fifty Shades has introduced millions to the enthralling world of bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism. And this is your chance to find out what all the fuss is about.

Who is Christian Grey?

Anastasia Steele – Ana to her friends – is nearly 22, and about to graduate from Washington State University Vancouver. She has pale skin, brown hair, and big blue eyes. She’s bookish and shy, and has gotten used to living in the shadow of her gorgeous, vivacious roommate, Kate.

But she’s prettier than she thinks she is, and nobody can quite understand why she’s never had a boyfriend.

Today she’s doing Kate yet another favor. Kate, a student journalist, has been working for months to secure an interview with the enigmatic young businessman who’ll speak at their graduation ceremony: Christian Grey, CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc. But Kate is ill – so Ana will drive to Seattle and interview him in her place.

So she tames her messy bed hair into a crude ponytail, puts on the only skirt she owns, and hits the road.

Grey Enterprises Holdings is a modern architectural fantasy in steel, glass, and sandstone. His assistants are all meticulously presented young women. Ana is hugely intimidated, and her heart is in her mouth as she approaches Mr. Grey’s office – and she stumbles in the doorway and falls.

So the first time she lays eyes on the tall, copper-haired Adonis of a man that is Christian Grey, she is on her knees. He gently helps her up, and there’s a thrilling static shiver as they touch.

Ana nervously stutters out Kate’s questions, hypnotized by Grey’s intense yet somehow playful gaze. His answers are all about the importance of control and discipline. Ana is enthralled. Part of her wants to run.

Back at home, Kate is thrilled by the intriguing answers Ana has elicited from this notorious recluse, and Ana heads off to work at the local hardware store.

That weekend on her shift, an unusually well dressed customer comes in. It’s Mr. Grey.

He’s restocking cable ties and rope.

Coffee

Ana holds it together enough to ask Mr. Grey to do a photoshoot for Kate’s article, and he agrees. The girls get José to do the shoot – Ana’s photographer friend who she’s always kind of known has a thing for her.

After the shoot, Mr. Grey asks Ana for a coffee. She can barely speak – but mumbles out a no. But he’s forceful, and she consents.

Ana’s first time

Christian flies Ana to his Seattle home in his helicopter, pours her a glass of wine, and fetches a document from his study. It’s a non-disclosure agreement for her to sign.

He also needs to show her a few things – including what he calls his playroom. It’s a softly lit space in leather and wood, with a huge mahogany cross on the wall. There are long, beautiful poles, there are paddles and whips, there are feathers.

Christian the enigma

It’s been a night of firsts for Christian as well as Ana. Despite his sexual experience, he’s never slept alongside a partner before. In fact, he’s never had vanilla sex either.

Over time, their relationship deepens, and Ana learns a little more about the smolderingly intense and mysterious man who has taken her virginity. Now 27, his first sexual encounter was with an older woman, a friend of his mother’s, at the age of just 15 – a relationship in which he was submissive, and she was dominant.

Pleasure and pain

Still unsure about her feelings, Ana goes to visit her mother in Savannah, Georgia. She and Christian email during the trip – he’s upgraded her to first class, of course – and he mentions he’s having dinner with an old friend, whom Ana correctly deduces is Mrs. Robinson, her name for his older former lover.

He reiterates that their sexual relationship is long over – and that she did him good, helping him to find himself despite his troubled childhood. But Ana still feels a confusing mixture of jealousy and anger – and she expresses this in her emails.

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What is Fifty Shades of Grey about?

Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) is the first in the Fifty Shades trilogy, telling the story of student Anastasia Steele and businessman Christian Grey – who introduces her to his dark world of sensuality, bondage, and discipline.

Who should read Fifty Shades of Grey?

Fans of captivating fiction
BDSM enthusiasts – or anyone curious
Anyone curious about what all the Fifty Shades fuss is about

About the Author

E.L. James, real name known as Erika Mitchell, first wrote the Fifty Shades trilogy as a work of fan fiction inspired by the vampire series Twilight – before reworking it and achieving phenomenal mainstream success. She has also reworked the series into a trilogy called Grey, Darker, and Freed – versions of the same story told from Christian Grey’s perspective. She was born in Middlesex, UK, in 1963, and lives in London.

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